Today
we are spotlighting Jessie Evans. I was introduced to Jessie’s work by the
ultra-fabulous Lauren Blakely a few months ago. Lauren thought I might like
Jessie’s books in her “Always a Bridesmaids” series and she was so spot on.
After exchanging a few emails Jessie and I discovered we actually grew up
within 30 minutes of each other!! She sent me a couple of arcs and I fell in
love with her sweet and getting sexier stories!! So getting to do this
interview and share a little bit of her with y’all is a real treat that I hope
y’all enjoy as much as I did doing it! So without further ado….
Amber: What
is the first book you read that made you fall in love with books?
Jessie: "Little Women." I checked it out
from the library the summer before second grade and read it four times in a
row. I was IN LOVE with all the sisters. I think that's part of the reason I
still like writing about close families. That first experience with a tight
literary family made a big impression.
A: When did you decide to start writing
and what was the first story about?
J: I wrote my first romance when I was still in
elementary school (I was a fan as soon as I snagged my first Jude Deveraux from
my mother's book shelf). It was a medieval historical and I think I got up to
chapter six before I quit. I started seriously pursuing a career as a romance
writer in 2005 and was published under a different pen name nine months after I
finished my first manuscript.
A: What inspires you?
J: Everything! The news, family, friends, music,
movies, long walks, driving thirty minutes to the good grocery store in the big
city (I live in a tiny river town). I don't find it hard to get inspired.
A: Since we both grew up in the same part of
Arkansas, what do you miss about home?
J: I miss being close to family and friends and
being able to be there to hold all the new babies. Seeing pictures on Facebook
just isn't the same. I do not miss the mosquitoes big enough to carry a girl
away, however. Northeast Arkansas can keep those suckers.
A: How did you create Summerville? Did
being a Southern girl at heart play a part? (I have to say I love stories set
in the South!)
J: Being from the South definitely played a
part--I loved growing up in a part of the country where it's normal to smile and
say howdy to strangers at the store--but in Summerville I could create a
kinder, gentler small town, one where people care about each other and work
together and nothing REALLY bad happens.
A: Do you listen to music while you write? And if
so have there been songs that have inspired story ideas?
J: I don't often listen to music while writing
the Summerville books--I write them too quickly and music tends to slow me
down/distract me--but I did listen to "Would You Go With Me" by Josh
Turner now and then while writing the Fire and Icing series. I love his deep
voice and that song is so sweet.
A: Cooking has been a theme in both the
'Always a Bridesmaid' and 'Fire and Icing' series; do you like to cook? And if
so what's your favorite dish?
J: I like
to cook, but I LOVE to eat. I'm a foodie and love trying new foods. My favorite
things to cook, however, are vegetables. A little weird, I know, but I love
experimenting with new ways to make veggies tasty. I've been stir frying
shredded brussel sprouts with Sriracha sauce recently, and it is so freaking
tasty. I could eat a bucket of those sprouts. (That sounds so yummy and I usually don’t like spicy!)
A: Do you have a favorite couple from
the two series?
J: Aw man, that's hard. I love them all the same
while I'm writing them, but I think Aria and Nash (from KEEPING YOU) and
Jamison and Maddie (from SWEET TO YOU) are tied for my favorite couple. I love
a story where a single mom finds her perfect partner (Aria), but I also loved
seeing Maddie get a chance at love after her divorce. I just love second
chances of all kinds. Those are hopeful stories to write.
A: What's the last book you read?
J: I'm reading to judge a contest right now so I
can't really say the LAST book I read, but I recently read THE THRILL OF IT by
Lauren Blakely and it was awesome. I highly recommend it.
A: Who's your favorite author?
J: I can't pick just one. There have been too
many authors who have touched me at different points in my life. It would feel
like a betrayal to pick just one.
A: What's your favorite drink?
J: A tie between red wine and coffee (though if
I had to pick one beverage for life it would be water, of course. I drink a ton
of water.)
A: What's next after the 'Fire and
Icing' series ends?
J: I'm not sure! I'm torn between two ideas, but
I know I'm going to step away from Summerville for a bit. I think I'll have to
ask my soon-to-form street team what they'd like to read most and go from
there.
A: Last question. Do you have a favorite
book boyfriend?
J: I actually love Peeta from "The Hunger
Games." I love that he was man enough to know when Katniss needed to take
the lead. I think that a man having that much faith in his lady/confidence in
himself is pretty hot.
Thanks so much for the
interview!
Check out the Always a
Bridesmaids books out now which I reviewed a previously and Melt with You and
Hot for You (books 1 & 2), from Jessie’s new Fire and Icing series are also
out!! Check below for an excerpt from Melt with You!
A Summerville Novel #6
Fire and Icing Book 1
Some fires never burn out…
After ten years as America’s sweetest celebrity chef, Naomi
Whitehouse is enjoying life out of the spotlight, back in her hometown of
Summerville, Georgia. She’s opening a pastry shop with her sister, housesitting
for her snowbird parents, and reconnecting with her roots. Life is good until
she runs into her high school sweetheart, Jake Hansen, a sexy firefighter who gives
her a reception chilly enough to freeze a forest fire. If Naomi wants her
homecoming to remain all cupcakes and sugar cookies, she’ll have to win Jake
over. But how can she earn his forgiveness when he won’t even speak to her?
When the girl who broke his heart buys a month of dates at the
firefighter’s Hunk-for-a-Month fundraiser auction, only honor keeps widower
Jake Hansen from backing out of the commitment. He won’t let the firehouse
down, even if it means enduring a torturous month with Naomi Whitehouse. And
Jake knows being close to Naomi again will be torture. Even after all these
years, she still gets to him…not that he intends to let her know it. He’ll be
civil, honor his obligation, and with any luck Naomi will tire of playing
small-town pastry chef and Jake will never see her again.
But as the month passes, Jake and Naomi discover some fires
never burn out. Will the heat between them be enough to melt away the pain of
past mistakes, or is their second chance doomed from the start?
MELT
WITH YOU Excerpt:
She was getting ready to order
Maddie to have fun without her and make a run for the exit, when the curtain
parted again and Naomi lost the ability to form words.
There, wearing nothing but black
jeans and a black Summerville Fire Department baseball cap, was the man she’d
come for. Naomi’s breath caught and a horrible, excited-but-miserable feeling
filled her chest. It was same feeling that had overwhelmed her when Jake had
turned and walked away from her at the store yesterday, but this time, he
didn’t know she was watching. Naomi was able to let her eyes linger, taking in
every inch of the stunning man her high school sweetheart had become.
Jake didn’t strut down the
catwalk like his little brother; he owned the stage like the captain of a ship,
like a Roman commander leading his army into battle. With his tanned, olive
skin, broad shoulders, chiseled chest, and deliciously narrow hips, Jake was
every bit the beefcake his little brother was. But that wasn’t what made the
crowd suck in their breath in appreciation as he reached the end of the catwalk
and took off his hat, his tousled brown hair flopping over one eye as he bowed
to the ladies on either side of the stage.
No, it wasn’t his muscles, the
strong planes of his face, or those dark brown eyes that glittered with
intelligence that made it impossible for Naomi to take her eyes off of him. It
was the way he held himself, the way he moved like a creature that was
completely at home in its body. Jake was a man who walked, talked, and prowled
the catwalk with innate confidence. He knew who he was and where he was going.
He was a man who worked hard and loved harder, who believed in the value of a
man’s word, and never gave a woman a second chance to make a bad impression.
Buy Links:
Interview with author Jessie Evans:
About the Author
Jessie
Evans gave up a career as an international woman of mystery to write the sassy,
Southern romances she always wanted to read.
She's
married to the man of her dreams, and together they're raising a few adorable,
mischievous children in a tree house in the boonies. She grew up in rural
Arkansas, spending summers running wild, being chewed by chiggers, and now
appreciates her home in a chigger-free part of the world even more.
When
she's not writing, Jessie enjoys playing her dulcimer (badly), sewing the
worlds ugliest quilts to give to her friends, going for bike rides with her house
full of boys, and wandering the woods, glass of wine and camera both in hand,
on the lookout for Bigfoot.
A
southern girl, born and bred, Jessie loves writing Southern romances with just
the right amount of sizzle, and hopes you'll enjoy her stories set in the
fictional town of Summerville, Georgia.
Connect with Jessie
Book Title: Take Two
